stage 9 winners and losers

[Thee_chisa]

i think the big winner was contador - he has shown that schleck cannot get rid of him.

other winners, menchov, sanchez, leipheimer, VDB, gesink all managed to hang on for a possible podium.


losers

big one Cadel - one race too far? having said that, i bet if he retires from this he will be gunning for the vuelta and WCs.

sastre, wiggins, rogers, LL sanchez (who should have pressed on and tried to take the stage and jersey).

larry showed he can still climb (must have had a very nourishing rest day) but still isn't too much of a team player.

another thing in this tour is THE FRENCH. these guys have no idea of teamwork, know i know why sky didn't bring calzati.

 

[Cobblestones]

Biggest loser: ASO, for not showing groups and riders that matter.

 

[nvpacchi]

i think the big winner was contador - he has shown that schleck cannot get rid of him.

other winners, menchov, sanchez, leipheimer, VDB, gesink all managed to hang on for a possible podium.


losers

big one Cadel - one race too far? having said that, i bet if he retires from this he will be gunning for the vuelta and WCs.

sastre, wiggins, rogers, LL sanchez (who should have pressed on and tried to take the stage and jersey).

larry showed he can still climb (must have had a very nourishing rest day) but still isn't too much of a team player.

another thing in this tour is THE FRENCH. these guys have no idea of teamwork, know i know why sky didn't bring calzati.

Sanchez is both a winner and a loser I feel.

He established himself as the 3rd (maybe 4th, if Gesink's self hype is at all true) best climber in the race. But at the same was unfortunate to not have500 meters more of downhilling to latch onto AC/AS, putting another 50 or more seconds of distance between himself and the Rabo boys.

If he did cramp up again, hopefully he gets this figured out. These two times it has not hurt him too too bad, but if it happens again on stage 17?

 

[Thee_chisa]

Biggest loser: ASO, for not showing groups and riders that matter.

yeah, i posted in the stage thread that the coverage was terrible today. too much on a breakaway group that was not really that important (but had french riders in it) after it became clear the LL sanchez would not get the yellow. and the terrible coverage over the top of the madeleine when everyone wanted to see where everyone was and all we got was cadel looking like he was having a stroke.

 

[Thee_chisa]

Sanchez is both a winner and a loser I feel.

He established himself as the 3rd (maybe 4th, if Gesink's self hype is at all true) best climber in the race. But at the same was unfortunate to not have500 meters more of downhilling to latch onto AC/AS, putting another 50 or more seconds of distance between himself and the Rabo boys.

If he did cramp up again, hopefully he gets this figured out. These two times it has not hurt him too too bad, but if it happens again on stage 17?

yep, i think another 1k and he would have been on. he may live to regret that.

 

[hrotha]

Lance is probably not much of a team player, but nothing that happened today sheds any light on the issue.

 

[Thee_chisa]

Lance is probably not much of a team player, but nothing that happened today sheds any light on the issue.

you think?

 

[hrotha]

you think?

What do you suggest he should have done? Not get dropped from Levi's group?

 

[Thee_chisa]

What do you suggest he should have done? Not get dropped from Levi's group?

i was thinking more about kloden, but i didn't know that they came in together, i thought lance had rode away from him, apologies

 

[the vagabond]

ride, rode, had ridden, OK? Sorry, but it's the second time today - Inner Peace also thinks "had rode" is English.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

sastre, wiggins, rogers, LL sanchez (who should have pressed on and tried to take the stage and jersey).

You think LL didn't press on to try to take the stage and jersey? Moreau and Guti killed themselves for him on the Madeleine, and LL had to do a lot of it on his own. I reckon that he was absolutely pooped, and sat on hoping to get the stage win once the chances of getting yellow were gone, which is more or less as soon as Schleck and Contador came forward.

 

[Thee_chisa]

You think LL didn't press on to try to take the stage and jersey? Moreau and Guti killed themselves for him on the Madeleine, and LL had to do a lot of it on his own. I reckon that he was absolutely pooped, and sat on hoping to get the stage win once the chances of getting yellow were gone, which is more or less as soon as Schleck and Contador came forward.

for someone who is a noted good descender he should have ridden off the front

 

[ttrider]

Contador Schleck and Sanchez x2 obviously major winners, they earned a significant time gain in that stage

Levi also a big winner he stayed with mencho and gesink and distanced many of the others

Notable losers are Wiggins, Evans, Sastre and Liquigas, Liqui went from 2 GC contenders to none!

 

[Kwibus]

Kreuziger once again showed he will never win a major GC I think.
He just can't handle the big mountains. It's a shame though as I live the guy.

I had hoped that Gesink would've been able to follow AC and AS or atleast Sammy Sanchez. Allthough I also feel i'm expecting waaay too much from him. Somehow I can't be really satisfied with what he did today, while he is the first dutch guy in yeeeeaaarrrss that can compete in the mountains and ride for a good GC spot. So normally I would be cheering by now, but somehow i'm kinda dissapointed.
Shame on me

 

[roundabout]

Other winners: Hushovd, Pineau - they get the realistic maximum (except for 2 points) out of the stage, team Astana in general - all TT threats eliminated and Saxobank has the jersey

Losers: Cunego, seems that he didn't do a lot in the break and still couldn't win, Caisse - they lead the team standings but got nothing from having 3 men in the break

 

[screaming fist]

Cadel lost his chances in this tour today. But if you ask me he's a winner today. A lot of respect for trying to stay in competition with a broken ellbow.

 

[ttrider]

to be fair Cunego had to waste a hell of a lot of energy to even get into the break....

 

[ericthesportsman6]

No Way LL Sanchez is a loser today. He never really had a shot at yellow, but now he has a chance at a top 10 finish.

 

[Nickbeam]

winners: AC, AS, Samu
Denis lost to much i think. 1 minute would be ok. Gesink's ok, shame he cracked at the top, they both could work well on the flat part.
losers: liquigas, they didn't lose a stage, they've lost the tour. basso is surviving, but he's not good enough for podium. Kreuziger - top 10 max. sastre - not a surprise.
cadel - well also not a surprise.

 

[hrotha]

winners: AC, AS, Samu
Denis lost to much i think. 1 minute would be ok. Gesink's ok, shame he cracked at the top, they both could work well on the flat part.
losers: liquigas, they didn't lose a stage, they've lost the tour. basso is surviving, but he's not good enough for podium. Kreuziger - top 10 max. sastre - not a surprise.
cadel - well also not a surprise.

Kreuziger is currently 2 seconds behind Basso and is a better TTer. If they get better in the Pyrenees, who knows what could happen.

 

[JPbianchi]

AC and andy are the favorite

unless any of them have a bad day. The Tour is not over yet, only half has been done, so I would not count anybody out yet, we'll see on the pyrenees. Levi I doubt he can do that much ,maybe Menchov and Ivan basso can definitely takes some time off to be in the first 5. Cadel evans is a true hero, and I hope that one day he can win a tour. This Tour has been so far one of the best Tour than I can recall.

 

[skidmark]

I've gotta say the ride of the day should go to Sammy Sanchez. I mean, I know he didn't close the gap on the descent (which, by the way, kudos to the unheralded descenders Schleck and Contador for holding him off), but really, this is a guy that's done well enough in the Vuelta against mediocre competition, and has shown in the past that he's a climber of only fair ability in the high mountains. Today he finished over a minute ahead of everyone, bar the extraterrestrial lead duo and the break. That's a pretty impressive effort.

Obviously the winners are AS, AC and LL for the GC, and the losers are Cadel, Wiggins, Sastre, disappointing rides all. Leipheimer is in the 'loser' crowd for me too, not because he had a bad day, but just because he's a loser. Le Mevel must be disappointed to see he can't keep up with the big guns at all, although many of us could have seen that. Cunego is a loser of the day too as he just can't seem to buy a win in the last 2 seasons.

Also performing above their abilities today were Kevin de Weert and Damien Monier... seriously, that guy, despite crashing on the descent, is making the most of his season, being selected last minute to the Giro and winning a stage, and now knocking on the door of a top 20 in the Tour. Chapeau.

 

[rxgqgxnyfz]

Leipheimer is in the 'loser' crowd for me too, not because he had a bad day, but just because he's a loser.

I lol'd, even though i know i shouldn't.
________
Uggs

 

[Fester]

Sky and Wiggins??

What happened? I only saw the last 40km and didn't see a single Sky rider. What could have gone wrong? They were brilliant initially, then a major fade in the mountains. Not good enough if they intend to win it in the next 5 years -with a British rider.

Definilty a big looser, along with Cervélo and BMC

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Kreuziger once again showed he will never win a major GC I think.
He just can't handle the big mountains. It's a shame though as I live the guy.

I had hoped that Gesink would've been able to follow AC and AS or atleast Sammy Sanchez. Allthough I also feel i'm expecting waaay too much from him. Somehow I can't be really satisfied with what he did today, while he is the first dutch guy in yeeeeaaarrrss that can compete in the mountains and ride for a good GC spot. So normally I would be cheering by now, but somehow i'm kinda dissapointed.
Shame on me

How could you expect that?

He couldn't follow Samuel Sanchez in the Vuelta last year in the 3rd week. (or Mosquera)
There are still a few steps to go before Gesink can follow the likes of Andy Schleck, and there is a good chance he will never reach that level. But it's too early to say yet